Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? Volume 1 Chapter 5

A cruel devil’s thesis

Part 1:

Right after Keiki enrolled into high
school, a homeroom started where everyone would have the opportunity
to join a committee. Regardless of committee, there weren’t many
students that took initiative. The library committee especially had
the image of being rather simple, so there weren’t a lot of
students that volunteered to join out of their own free will. Because
of that, one girl had bad luck that day when the lottery was drawn.
Said girl was Keiki’s redheaded seat neighbour. With loose clothes
and a short skirt, she had a rather modern style and atmosphere. Said
girl always looked very displeased, and her good-looking face always
had a cold gaze on it. However, when she returned from the lottery
that day, she was completely different.

She was crying like the world would end
the next day. Because she looked so extremely troubled, Keiki had
talked to her. And that was the trigger that caused Keiki to become a
member of the library committee. It was the first time that Keiki had
exchanged words with his brownish-red haired classmate, Nanjou Mao.

Part 2:

The next morning, Keiki happened to
meet Mao in front of the shoe lockers.

“Ah, Nanjou…”

“Kiryuu……”

The gods really are harsh. Just when
their relationship got a bit weird, the gods made them appear on
front of the other.

“Mornin’, Kiryuu.”

“Y-Yeah, good morning.”

Exchanging a short greeting, the girl
took out her own indoor shoes. That expression she showed yesterday
was nowhere to be found. She was wearing a small amount of make-up
and her hair was put together in a modern style. Her face was as
beautiful as ever, but the atmosphere around her was a bit different,
like every time she took a breath there was a thorn inside her chest.

“Hey, Nanjou…”

“…..What is it?”

“Uhm……”

Yesterday, Mao told Keiki that he
shouldn’t get too close to other girls. Although he would’ve
really liked to know her reasoning behind it, he couldn’t find the
right words to achieve that.

“Keiki-senpai, good morning!” The
voice that cut through the heavy atmosphere sounded very energetic.

The person greeting him was the
blonde-haired Kouhai he was all too familiar with.

“Ah, Mao-senpai is also here. Good
morning.”

“Mornin’… I’ll be going on
ahead,” Being greeted by her Kouhai, the girl walked away.

After looking at the girl’s back with
her blue eyes, Yuika looked up at Keiki.

“Don’t tell Yuika… did something
happen between Keiki-senpai and Mao-senpai?”

“Does it look like that?”

“It really does. It’s probably
because of Yuika…”

“Not just Yuika-chan, to be precise.”

There’s another person accountable in
this case. Of course, it was the long-haired, big-breasted Senpai.

“Yuika has to apologize for
yesterday. It seems like she went a bit too far.”

“It’s okay. As long as you’re
reflecting on it.”

“Ah but, Yuika will not give up on
Keiki-senpai, you know?”

“If at all possible, I would rather
you gave up.”

For some reason or another, Yuika
became interested in Keiki and now she wanted him to become her
slave. However, Keiki didn’t have the slightest interest of
becoming the girl’s slave. And like this, they would never see eye
to eye.

“Keiki-senpai and Mao-senpai really
are close.”

“Eh, you think so?”

“Every time Yuika sees Mao-senpai on
school grounds, she always has this sulking expression on her face,
after all.”

“That… might be the case.”

When she’s in the classroom, Mao just
sits in her seat without talking to anyone. It’s not like she’s
deliberately acting hostile, but she clearly doesn’t go out of her
way to start conversations with other people.

“But every time she’s with
Keiki-senpai, she looks like she’s having fun. Yuika thought this
before during the cleaning operation.”

“Well, Nanjou can be a bit moody
sometimes.”

“Don’t tell me… does Mao-senpai
feel that way towards Keiki-senpai…?”

“Yuika-chan?”

“Cough Well… it would be
best to hurry and make up with her.”

“…..”

“What is it? You look so surprised.”

“Well, I just thought that you were
being strangely nice to me even though you want me to become your
slave…”

“Oh, you don’t know, Keiki-senpai?”
She said as she turned around on the spot, making her skirt flutter,
“As a proper master, Yuika has to alternate between the candy and
the whip sometimes,” Looking over her shoulder, she winked at him.

With an angel-like smile, she said
words befitting a witch.

Lunch break. Having finished eating his
lunch, he received a perfectly timed email. The sender was Tokihara
Sayuki. The content was ‘Come to the clubroom immediately.’

And, having arrived in front of her, he
sat down, facing her.

“So why did you call me here during
lunch break?”

“It’s about yesterday… was
Nanjou-san mad after what happened?”

“Uhm… I can’t really say for
sure…”

“I thought so. I happened to meet her
in the hallway earlier and she looked even more mad than ever. It
seems like your relationship with her has gotten worse because of
me,” She whimpered like a little puppy that did something bad, “I
really reflected on it, you know? That incident with Koga-san
yesterday… Nanjou-san happened to see all of it, right? It makes
sense that it dampered her mood to see all of us like that. Like, me
wanting to become Keiki-kun’s pet, or Koga-san wanting to make
Keiki-kun her slave… anyone would be a bit perplexed after seeing
that.”

“It feels really weird to hear you
say something with that much common sense after all this time… But
it’s true that finding out about both of your real personalities in
this harsh of a way might’ve been a bit too much for her.”

“Yes. I was always hiding my real
personality all this time, after all. Nobody except Keiki-kun,
Koga-san, and my family knew about me being a hardcore masochistic
bitch.”

“So your family actually knows, huh.”

“When I told them, they said ‘You’d
better keep this a secret.’”

“Figures.”

Just imagining how her parents must’ve
felt made his heart hurt.

“Well, after that, I decided that I
will pick out a private place to make my approach. I really don’t
want to trouble Keiki-kun, after all.”

“Senpai…”

“That’s why I’ll try to seduce
him as best as I can in places where we can be alone together!”

“Senpai?!”

“Just like the pets in the pet shop,
I will show Keiki-kun my charm and make him choose me! ‘Wow, now I
really want to make Sayuki my pet,’ something like that!”

“I would rather drown in the depths
of the ocean.”

“So, Keiki-kun…”

Sayuki stood up from her seat and
brought her face closer to the table. A sweet smell and her
puppy-like eyes made Keiki’s heart beat faster.

“Please adopt me?”

“I wholeheartedly decline.”

“Then, domesticate me?”

“It’s getting worse?!”

“It’s fine, right? Master~”

“That cute voice won’t help you. I
have no plans whatsoever to make Senpai my pet.”

“Nobody knows what the future will
bring. There should be a worldline where I become Keiki-kun’s pet.”

“Then how about you go over to that
worldline right this instant?”

“I wouldn’t be having this much
trouble if I could just take the train over there.”

“Even though you were the one who
brought it up……”

“That’s why I’ll definitely win
your heart in this worldline.”

“So there’s no option for you to
give up on me, is there?”

“Of course not?” She tilted her
head in confusion as she grinned, looking like she found a small
treasure of hers, “After all, Keiki-kun is the only person I want
to be my master.”

That honest smile of hers was
incredibly cute. It really was a pity that she was a super pervert
that wanted to become another person’s pet.

“Well, let’s leave it at that for
today. And I’ll lay low for a bit.”

“Eh? I thought you weren’t going to
give up?”

“Nanjou-san is Keiki-kun’s
important friend, right? Destroying my master’s friendship would
make me a disgrace of loyal dog after all.”

“……”

“It would make a disgrace of a loyal
dog after all.”

“Why did you say it twice?”

Instead of answering, she pointed her
white finger at him.

“So hurry up and make up with her
already.”

She said it like she was pushing the
back of a coward.

“…Yes, thank you very much.”

Thanks to that, Keiki felt much better
now.

“Whenever Keiki-kun’s not with me,
I enjoy myself thinking it’s a neglection play.”

“You can enjoy that for all of
eternity.”

Still, she’s still very grown-up,
worrying about her Kouhai.

After classes. When homeroom ended, all
of his fellow classmates left the classroom. While he calmly packed
his things to prepare for the walk home, a red-haired girl resting
her head on her desk entered Keiki’s view.

“Heey, Nanjou? Homeroom is already
over, you know?”

“Mhm…? Ah, Kiryuu…”

Having checked on the source of the
voice talking to her, she once more buried her face into her arms.

“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling
well?”

“I’m fine. Lately, I haven’t been
able to sleep very well.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Is it because of yesterday?”

“I don’t want to talk about that
right now.”

“…I get it. But if you’re having
trouble about something, you can always ask me for advice, you know?”

“You’ll give me advice?”

“Well, we’re friends after all, so
of course I’d help you out.”

“Kiryuu…” She looked up at him,
“Kiryuu and I are friends?”

“Was I the only one who thought so?!”

“Ahaha, calm down. I was joking.”

“I can’t really laugh at that,
though……”

“But, thank you. It makes me happy
that you think that,” She had a soft smile on her face as she
expressed her feelings verbally, “But you haven’t been talking to
me at all lately.”

“Uhh… that’s… a lot of stuff
happened.”

“Then, how about you make up for it
now?”

“Make up for it?”

“How about we go to an arcade? It’s
been a long time, after all. Maybe together with Akiyama.”

“The arcade, huh. We haven’t been
there for quite some time, yeah.”

Before, the three of them had gone
there often, but Keiki had been a bit busy ever since the love letter
incident.

Today he didn’t need to show his face
in the calligraphy clubroom, and he didn’t have any work with the
library committee either. There was no reason to decline her
invitation.

“Ahh, this sound is like an explosion
of nostalgia for me.”

“Sometimes I really don’t get
Nanjou at all.”

“Likewise. This sound is nothing more
than a pain in the ass,” Shouma agreed to Keiki’s opinion.

As they were flooded with tons of
different sounds, he had to speak in a louder voice.

“Shouldn’t it be fine to skip club
practice from time to time, Akiyama?”

“Maybe. Ditching my club to play in
an arcade really gets my excited.”

“Ahaha, to think that you could get
excited by anything besides little girls,” Mao let out a cute laugh
as she walked deeper into the arcade. “Let’s do that one first,
over there.”

What the girl was pointing at was a
classic shooter game where you had to shoot the zombies that came at
you. Mao and Shouma went first while Keiki watched them.

“As always, Nanjou’s a goddess at
this.”

Although Shouma wasn’t half bad, he
still couldn’t reach Mao’s level of skill. Or rather, since she
was the one who wanted to go to the arcade, it made sense that she’d
be basically a demon at every game possible. She was even good enough
at fighting games (her favourite kind of game) to make an experienced
player cry. Still, she also managed to clear the zombie shooting game
with no damage taken. By the way, her partner Shouma was eaten
halfway into the round.

“C’mere Kiryuu. It’s your turn.”

“Yeah,” Receiving the gun from Mao,
he stood in front of the screen.

“Hey, Partner. Don’t pull me down,
will you?”

“Likewise. I hope that you don’t
die halfway through the round like last time.”

And with that, the game started.
Screams and gunshots resounded through the battlefield, with blood as
far as the eye could see. While Keiki and Shouma were shooting their
hearts out, Mao watched them, seemingly having fun. Since it was a
bit difficult without the monstrously strong Mao, it was no surprise
when the game over screen appeared approximately ten minutes later.

“They really showed us, huh?”

“That zombie with the big chainsaw
was really tough.”

Exchanging these words, the boys put
the guns back where they belonged and stepped away from the machine.
In that moment, Keiki tripped over his own feet, making his body fall
over.

“Uwaa?!”

“Woah,” Shouma barely managed to
catch him with his arm as he was about to fall over.

“You okay?”

“Y-Yeah, thanks for that. It’s been
a while since I’ve played a game standing up like that, so I
must’ve gotten a bit shaky in the legs.”

“You two… why are you doing a
kabe-don even though you’re both guys?”

“Eh? Kabe-don?”

As Mao said that, Keiki became aware of
the position he was in. In front of him was an ikemen, who had one
hand on the wall behind Kiryuu and the other on him to support him.
From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like Shouma pulled a
kabe-don on Keiki.

“Hey, Akiyama, will you let go of
Kiryuu already?!”

“Nanjou… why do you have your
smartphone ready like that?”

Even though she told him to let go, she
had taken her smartphone out, gotten into position, and taken a
photo. And immediately after that, a second one. Then, with a
satisfied expression, she returned to her former position and took a
third.

“Really! Really really really!
Pulling a kabe-don like that out of the blue, since when were you two
like that?”

“What are you talking about?! W-Wait,
don’t take any more photos! This is too embarrassing!”

“It’s even better when you’re
embarrassed, don’t you think?!”

“Really, what the hell are you even
saying?!”

Maybe her brain was damaged from
playing that zombie game. All Keiki knew was that his eyes had
started to hurt from all the camera flashes.

“Fufufu, might this be jealousy
because you’re afraid that I’ll take Keiki away from you,
Mao-chan?”

“Wha-?! A-Are you an idiot?! That’s
not it at all!”

A perfect tsundere response. Yet, she
still didn’t stop taking photos. On the contrary, they were being
mass-produced right now.

“What’s up with this…”

After about a minute, the photoshoot
stopped.

“Ahahaha. I was enjoying myself a bit
too much. Ohh, but the pictures turned out great if i do say so
myself,” The cameraman said as she checked the photos.

“Mao-chan is in top form today, huh.”

“Well, we’ve definitely been
neglecting her recently. I guess she really wanted to have some fun.”

Normally, she always had a deadpan
expression on her face, but right now, she looked like a completely
different person. Without making eye contact with the boys, every one
of them had a small smile on their faces.

“Now then, I guess we’ll give her
what she wanted.”

“Yeah, we’ll play ‘till we drop
dead.”

They had a lot of time. And that
red-haired girl would surely use up all of it.

“Ahh, that was fun! I’m satisfied
to the brim!” Mao stretched.

“Well, we’ve been walking around
the arcade for about three hours,” Keiki said as he watched Mao.

“My ears hurt from all that noise…”
Shouma rubbed his ears.

As the three of them left the arcade,
they noticed that it had already gotten dark outside.

With a voice that didn’t show how
tired he actually was, Shouma separated from the two of them. And he
turned around to wink at Keiki once. Basically, Shouma had created a
chance for Keiki to investigate if Mao might actually be Cinderella.

“Welp, I guess we’ll go home as
well.”

“I can go home myself, you know? My
home’s not far from here.”

“That’s not going to happen,
Nanjou. You’re a girl after all.”

“A girl…” As she muttered that,
it looked like she unconsciously touched her hair, “Then, maybe
I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Roger that.”

With that, they started walking. The
boy that didn’t have any special features about him, and the flashy
girl. Two different people becoming friends like this without any
common interests is part of what makes life so interesting.

“Hey Kiryuu, it’s gotten pretty late,
right? Will Mizuha be fine?”

“Yeah, I told her that she can start
eating dinner without me.”

“You’re really doing a great job at
being a siscon, aren’t you?”

“You’re making me blush.”

“Why do I only have a lolicon and a
siscon around me, I wonder?” She said with a sigh. “Well, today I
had a lot of fun with the two of you.”

“You’re right. That reminds me, we’ve
been friends for about a year now.”

“That’s… yeah,” Suddenly, she
stopped walking.

“Nanjou?”

“It’s true that I’m really having fun
right now but… I might not be able to keep going like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“How do I say it… it feels like I’m
getting more frustrated every second… Hey, Kiryuu?” She looked
straight at Keiki as her cheeks started to get red. And…

“How about, uhm… not with the three
of us… but how about going forward just with two?”

These words were almost like the
message of a confession.

“Two… so Nanjou, you mean—”

As Keiki wanted to ask, he felt a cold
drop on his shoulder.

“Uwa, it’s starting to rain.”

“Eh, really?”

The rain grew more intense by the
second. Just when they thought that it wasn’t so bad, it started
pouring en masse.

“Uwaaa?!”

“What’s up with this….?!”

The two of them evacuated to a nearby
overhang.

“Haah, this is the worst…”

“Yeah. It came out of nowhere, too.”

Since the rain got pretty intense very
quickly, both their heads and clothes were soaked in a matter of
minutes. And Keiki didn’t know if he should continue the
conversation from before. Though, for some reason, he was happy that
he didn’t have ask her what she meant.

“Kiryuu, did they say that it would
rain today?”

“Nope. This was probably a sudden
rain front or something.”

“Sudden rain front, huh. That happens
a lot lately… Here, have a towel.”

“Ah, thanks a bunch. I don’t have
anything besides a handkerchief—” Keiki swallowed his words
because of the sight in front of him.

Mao took out a small towel out of her
bag. However, since she wasn’t wearing a blazer, he could see right
through her blouse because of the rain, making her underwear
completely visible.

“Kiryuu?”

Because Keiki’s movements suddenly
stopped like an electrical circuit that was cut, Mao looked at him
with a dubious gaze. And, following her friend’s gaze, she realized
why he had gotten quiet.

“Woah, hey! Where are you looking?!”

“Ah, sorry. But, uhm….Nanjou really has quite the bust alright.”

“What are you saying?!”

Keiki blurted out these words without
thinking. Having decided that he should probably shut up now, he
looked up at the sky. In the meantime, Mao put on her blazer and
completely buttoned it up to the top. She then proceeded to glare at
him again.

“Now Kiryuu got to see my bra, too…
this really is the worst.”

“It’s your fault for not wearing
your blazer properly, you know?”

“I got hot inside the arcade, which
is why I took it off.”

“I see…”

“Yeah…”

Their conversation came to a sudden
halt, and only the sound that was left was the rain pounding down on
the world around them. But Keiki didn’t exactly hate that silence.
It felt like all the stress of the past few days was being washed
away from him.

“…It looks like the rain isn’t
going to stop soon.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Kiryuu. Can I ask you
something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Say, are you being approached by
both your Senpai and Kouhai at the same time?”

“……..” Because that question
was so unexpected, he couldn’t come up with a way to cover it up.
“….W-Why do you ask?”

“I mean, judging from that situation
yesterday, it really looked like it.”

“You said that you didn’t want to
talk about…”

“Women can be a bit unfair at times.
So, what is it?” Her gaze was clearly saying “Spill it out
already.”

“These two are… It’s not like
that. I can’t properly explain it though.”

“But it really looked like they were
competing for you.”

“Yeah, but that’s a bit different…”

“I’m sure that Kiryuu wants to go
out with a girl too, right?”

“Well, there are times when I think
that, yeah.”

“…Lewd.”

“Why?!”

“But it’s true, right? You really
looked like you enjoyed having one of them at each of your arms.”

“I told you that you were wrong about
that!”

This almost sounds like a lover’s
quarrel.

“ ——Achoo!”

As I was getting worried that the fight
might escalate, Mao’s sneeze completely snuffed out the flame.

“……..”

“W-What is it?”

“No, I just thought that your sneeze
was really cute.”

“S-Shut it, idiot,” Although she
threw that verbal abuse at Keiki, her face got red.

Dwelling on that cute reaction, Keiki
looked up the dark sky. The rain still hadn’t let up. Even if they
were safe from the rain, their clothes were still wet and it was
starting to get colder. As far as Keiki could see, there weren’t
any convenience stores close to them, so there was no way for them to
get an umbrella. But there was still one good thing. A few meters
away, there were a few buildings lined up next to each other. It
looked like a karaoke or a small bar, so there should be a vending
machine in there somewhere.

“I’ll go buy something to drink.
What do you want, Nanjou?”

“…I’ll take some hot chocolate,
then.”

“Hot chocolate, got it.”

“Ah, what about the money—”

“It’s fine, it’s my treat. I got
to see something good earlier, after all.”

“Something good? …Hah?! I-Idiot!
Idiot idiot! You’re the worst!” She crossed her arms in front of
her breasts to hide them, glaring at Keiki with a gaze colder than
ever. “Die, you pervert!”

Hearing these words, Keiki evacuated
into the building.

“Nanjou is rather the pure maiden, I
see…..”

If this were Sayuki, she’d be
pressing her breasts against Keiki instead.

Keiki then proceeded to buy two hot
chocolate cans. As he returned, he saw Nanjou, still staying
sheltered from the pouring rain, looking at her smartphone.

“Nanjou…?” What Keiki saw was a
grinning, happy looking girl.

What Mao was looking at where the
pictures from the arcade. And what was shown in the pictures was
mostly the face of Shouma.

“…Ahh, I see how it is.”

Remembering back, the only times when
Keiki really felt Mao’s gaze was when he was together with Shouma.
And Mao was currently looking at the pictures with the face of a
maiden in love—

Taking everything in consideration,
even an idiot would understand what’s happening.

“Nanjou… so you were in love with
Shouma, huh?”

“Eh?” Mao’s body lightly twitched
as Keiki called out to her.

Realizing that Keiki’s gaze was
fixated on the smartphone in her hand, she hurriedly hid it.

“Y-You’re wrong!”

“In what way?”

“Kiryuu, you’re misunderstanding!
The one I like isn’t Shouma but, uhm, y—” Her face went red in
an instant, “….Sorry, I’m going home.”

Even though it was still raining, Mao
dashed away. And, even after her back disappeared, Keiki couldn’t
move away from that spot. The moment she had turned to run away, it
looked like she had tears in her eyes.

“…What was up with that…?” He
muttered, his voice drowned out by the sound of the rain, “If you
make that face, I’m gonna start misunderstanding again…”

He remembered the words written on the
front of the love letter. And the short message written within it.

‘I like you.’

He didn’t know who wrote that.

He didn’t know whose feelings those
were.

Merely a throwaway confession. But now
that he had received it and read it, he couldn’t ignore it. He
certainly couldn’t stop until he found out the identity of the girl
that held these feelings for him, or his heart could probably never
move on.

“…Is Nanjou my Cinderella?”

And of course, nobody answered the
timid prince’s question. It was merely washed away by the sound of
the rain.

Part 3:

That day, the relationship between
Keiki and Mao didn’t move forward at all. In the end, the day ended
with them not being able to talk about that incident. Even though his
Kouhai encouraged him, and his Senpai pushed his back, nothing
changed. Instead, you could even say that their relationship had only
gotten worse. Although Shouma also wanted to know what had happened,
Keiki couldn’t just tell him the truth.

After classes had ended, Keiki
basically rushed out of the school building only to stop his feet
countless times on the way home as he stopped to think.

“Is Nanjou really my Cinderella?”
He repeated these words countless times, “Am I not misunderstanding
it like the times with Sayuki-senpai and Yuika-chan?”

That was the reason why Keiki had
gotten more timid than ever. Even though Mao might be fishy, he had
thought so too in the case of Sayuki and Yuika. He just didn’t want
to step on another landmine like before. That being said, he couldn’t
leave this at is. He had to find out, no matter what.

“But… after she showed me such a
face… how should I start talking to her again…?”

In Keiki’s chest, he still felt
horrible for forcing her to make such a face. He had reflected on it
countless times, and he started hating himself because he let out his
own frustration on Mao. Prioritizing his own feelings, he had ignored
the girl’s feelings, and made her cry.

“I really am the worst, aren’t I…?”

Walking on heavy feet, it took him
twice as much time as normal to walk home that day. The entrance to
his home was unlocked. It looked like Mizuha was already home. And
Keiki immediately headed for his own room.

I just want to lie down on my bed
and sleep.

With that comfortable method of running
away from reality in his mind, he opened the door. But in that
moment, that escape route was cut off.

“………..Eh, Mizuha?”

In his room that should be empty, for
some reason, there was his little sister.

Wearing casual clothes, the girl was
sitting on top of his bed. Seeing her like that, he was entranced by
her beauty. And what Mizuha was doing was looking at a collection of
books. Books titled things like ‘It’s fine if she’s legal!’
and filled with countless pictures of girls with small bodies and
baby-like faces. She looked up from the book she was reading and
stared at her brother with her usual sleepy expression.

“I didn’t think that Nii-san was
such a lolicon.”

“You’re wrong! Shouma forgot that
book here the last time he came over!”

“It figures. Nii-san likes them on
the bigger end of the scale after all.”

“…W-Well, that’s certainly true…”

There was no need to clarify what they
were talking about. What was more important was that his little
sister had found his secret stash.

“And what are you doing in here,
Mizuha?”

“I finished cleaning my room, so I
thought I’d do Nii-san’s room too. Then I happened to spot these
very interesting books. After a long fight, I lost against my
curiosity.”

“Thanks for sparing me the details.
For now, could you not enter your Nii-san’s room without
permission?”

“I don’t care that Nii-san is
hiding these books, you know?”

“But I do!”

“It makes sense. I guess I
overstepped my bounds, even though we’re so close…… Sorry.”

“Well, it’s fine. I know that
Mizuha is a clean freak and I’ve been slacking off on cleaning my
room for quite some time.”

Mizuha never could overlook any signs
of dirt ever since she was born. Even dirt inside Keiki’s own room.

“By the way, Nii-san?”

“Mhm?”

“Should I give you a lap pillow?”

“………Excuse me?”

Two minutes later, Keiki was resting
his head in Mizuha’s lap for some reason. Without going into much
detail, Keiki was enjoying the situation like a cat as he was gently
being petted on the head by Mizuha.

“Uhm… why a lap pillow all of a
sudden?”

“It’s the duty of a little sister
to be spoiled by her brother, and also to spoil him.”

“Yup, I don’t really get it.”

That response wasn’t really a
sufficient answer. Even after living with her for countless years, he
still didn’t quite grasp the personality of his little sister.

“Nii-san, did something happen
recently?”

“Eh? W-Why do you ask?”

“I know. I always know when Nii-san
is feeling down.”

Her voice transmitted a soft warmth.
Keiki really loved that voice of hers.

“As your little sister, I can’t
ignore Nii-san when he’s not feeling well, and I might get some
Nii-san points if I give him some advice.”

“What’s that supposed to be,
ahahaha,” He let out a laugh.

Even though they had barely started
talking, the dark feelings inside his chest had already started to
magically clear up.

“Then, I might as well ask for some
advice,” He lifted up his body and sat down next to Mizuha,
“Actually, I happened to get into a fight with Nanjou.”

“With Mao-chan?”

“I think that Nanjou is hiding
something from me. Without knowing what it is or how she felt about
it, I ended up hurting her.”

Because he was irritated, he hurt her.

“It’s no good to force something
out of someone if the person doesn’t want to talk about it, you
know?” Hearing the circumstances, Mizuha showed a complicated smile
and said that like she was talking to a kid, “Be it with friends,
or even family, there are some things that you can’t tell people,
don’t you think?”

“Yeah… that might be the case.”

Keiki himself didn’t talk about
everything with his friends. And of course, that was also the case
for his little sister Mizuha.

“…But even so, I think I want to
know more about Nanjou.”

There should be things that she can’t
tell Keiki because she treasures him. But even so, there are feelings
that can only be transmitted with words. Even more than wanting to
know more about her, he didn’t want to hurt her. That’s why he
would have to take risks in order to get that one step closer to her.

“Nii-san doesn’t want to be
separated from Mao-chan, huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’d better make up with her
quickly.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“I think you just have to hit her
with everything you got.”

“As if I could?!”

“You don’t have to do anything
special. I think that Nii-san just has to be himself and act like he
thinks is best.”

“But…”

But, what if he makes the same mistake
again— He remembered Mao’s crying face. The pain that he felt as
he saw her. Maybe because she realized what Keiki was feeling, Mizuha
grabbed his hand, and when he looked up, she was smiling at him.

“If you really fail with that, I’ll
comfort you as long as you want.”

“Mizuha…”

With these words, the girl slowly
pulled the timid prince out of his shell. When you’re lacking the
courage to take the step forward, you have to thin out the fear of it
ending up in failure.

Just thinking about his cute little
sister comforting him, he wasn’t all that afraid of failure
anymore. Maybe because Keiki really was a siscon.

“Thank you Mizuha. I’ll give it my
best.”

“Yup,” She gently smiled at him
and told him “Give it your best,” with Keiki’s favorite voice
of hers.

Part 4:

The day after he had received advice
from Mizuha. As always, school lessons went by without him being able
to talk to Mao at all. When he had finished with his work in the
library, he received an email from Mizuha.

‘Mao-chan is in the classroom right
now’

As he returned to his own classroom, it
was just as the email had said. The brownish red-haired girl was
indeed there, resting her head on her arms as she sat at her desk.

“…Weird. Normally, she always goes
straight home.”

Whatever the reason, this was his
chance, and he couldn’t let that slip past him. Taking a deep
breath, Keiki entered the classroom. Mao’s desk was right in the
middle of the classroom, and as he arrived next to it, he raised his
voice.

“Nanjou?”

“……………”

“Heeeey, Nanjou-san~?”

“……….”

Either she was sleeping, or she was
just acting.

“If you don’t wake up, I’m gonna
grope your breasts, you know?”

“……..Are you an idiot?”

His sexual harassment was answered with
a cold gaze as she looked up at him.

“So you really were awake.”

“……Hmpf.”

Maybe she still wasn’t over what
happened the other day. With a displeased expression, she lifted up
her body.

“…I want to apologize to Nanjou. To
be honest, I don’t know how I troubled you so far but I regret
hurting you. I don’t want to fight with Nanjou, after all, and if
you’re able to forgive me, I want to know more about you.”

He didn’t have confidence that he
could properly convey his feelings but he still kept going.

“That’s why I want to make up to
you. If I can make you forgive me, I will do anything.”

“…Really?” Suddenly standing up,
Mao brought her face closer.

They were so close that the air they
were breathing started to mix. Thanks to that, Keiki once more
realized how beautiful Mao actually was.

“Then… will you go out…?”

Her words were like a bullet that shot straight into the adolescent boy’s heart. She made fists with her hands and her face went completely red. They were alone in the classroom that was illuminated by the setting sun. On this romantic stage, the heroine once more opened her mouth.

“I told you, right? Moving forward as
only two wouldn’t be too bad. That’s why—” She looked up with
expectant eyes as she said these words in a sweet tone.

There’s no mistake. Nanjou Mao is the
girl that wrote the love letter—

“That’s why… will you go out…
with Akiyama?”

“………..Huh?”

As she suddenly brought up the name of
Akiyama Shouma, his thoughts suddenly stopped. He couldn’t actually
understand her words just now.

“…Sorry, Nanjou. Can you repeat
that once more?”

“I want Kiryuu to become a couple
with Akiyama.”

“Me and Shouma?”

“Yeah.”

“To become lovers?”

“Yeah.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?”

There’s gotta be a limit to talking
in riddles.

Maybe she heard him, maybe she didn’t,
but Mao grabbed her bag and brought a small notebook out. Opening
that, she turned it over to show Keiki.

“In the end, I want it to be like
this.”

Shown on that page were drawings. And
it looked like they were from a manga—

“…….Eh?”

But, what was shown on there exceeded
Keiki’s imaginations.

Keiki and Shouma. Both of them in their
birthday suit. And Shouma’s long manhood was about to enter the
hole of Keiki’s butt.

“Wha — What in the living hell is
this?!”

It was at this moment that Keiki
finally understood the truth of the world.

The stage was still the classroom. Both
Mao and Keiki were sitting at one desk, facing each other. And on top
of said table was a notebook opened up, with pictures that would
perfectly fit in a BL manga. BL being an abbreviation for “boys
love,” which means a story where two boys are in love with each
other.

“So, Nanjou-san? What the hell does
this mean?”

“Just what it looks like. The truth
is, I’m actually a fujoshi.”

“A fujoshi? Doesn’t that mean a
girl that gets off to seeing two boys in love with each other?”

“Yep, that kind of fujoshi.”

“So Nanjou loves seeing two boys who
love each other?”

“Yes. I really love it.”

“And you also love it when they get
erotic together?”

“I can’t get enough of it.”

“I see…”

Nanjou Mao belonged to THAT kind
of world.

“You’re pulling my leg, right?”

“Not one bit.”

“Figures~”

Mao started laughing at that response.
She was currently wearing glasses on her face. Keiki had never seen
her wearing glasses before.

“So you were wearing glasses?”

“Ahh this? Only when I’m in fujoshi
mode.”

“Ah, I see…”

“To be fair, I’m a bit
near-sighted. Normally, it’s not that big of a deal, but when I’m
drawing, I usually put them on.”

“When you say drawing, you mean these
BL mangas, right?”

“Yep. I also participate in events
and so on. My mangas sell really well, you know?”

“They sell well, huh…”

“Are you going to scorn me? Because
I’m a girl that draws this stuff?”

“Well, everybody has the freedom to
choose their own hobby, after all, so I don’t mean to say anything
about that, but…”

“But?”

“Why are you drawing a BL book with
me and Shouma?!”

“Ah, so you’re mad?”

“Of course I am?!”

Anybody would be mad if they were used
as a model for a BL manga without their permission.

“And also, this character’s name is
‘Keeki’! That’s almost my real name!”

By the way, Shouma’s codename was
‘Shouto’.

“I did think that using your real
names would be bad. Also, I came up with those names because
combined, they become ‘Shortcake,’ and that’s why I stayed with
that.”

“So my privacy lost against a whim of
yours…?”

As a side note, Nanjou-sensei’s
newest work was called ‘Shouto and Keiki’s creamy showdown.’

“There were times when Nanjou was
practically staring at Shouma and I, right? Does that have anything
to do with the two of us becoming characters for your BL manga?”

“Yup. I didn’t want to miss a
single moment.”

“And the reason why you were missing
sleep before….”

“Because the deadline for my next
manga was close.”

“So when you ask me from time to time
to take over cleaning duty for you, it’s also because of that…?”

“When my deadline is dangerously
close, yeah.”

“Don’t tell me… when you drew the
library committee in the lottery one year ago…?”

“I wouldn’t have the time to draw
any more BL manga, so I couldn’t join.”

“So it’s all about BL manga?!”

Her whole world revolved around BL
manga.

“And the other day when you were
looking at the photos of Shouma?”

“I was checking my reference
material. He might be a pervert, but his face is pretty good
looking.”

“Why is the truth always so
heartbreaking…?”

“I wish you’d stop with your weird
misunderstandings, Kiryuu. Me liking Shouma… who would like a
lolicon like him?”

So that’s what she meant when she
said “It’s not Akiyama that I like…”. She meant that she
liked the BL between Shouma and Keiki.

“But still, why didn’t you tell me
that time?”

“I was trying to hide the fact that
I’m a fujoshi. I actually planned on hiding it forever, but since
Kiryuu started having affairs, I had to do something.”

“I don’t really get it…”

“Recently, you’ve been on good
terms with Tokihara-senpai and Yuika, right? That really troubled
me.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t get enough material.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you spend more time with other
girls, you’ll leave Akiyama all alone, you know? That means that my
reference material will disappear. I invited only the three of us to
the arcade, right?”

“…That’s why you told me not to
get close to other girls, huh?”

“And since you have Shouto, I won’t
forgive Keeki for being all lovey-dovey with other women!”

“Can you not confuse me with the
character in your manga please?”

“Thanks to Kiryuu having fun with
other women, I ended up in a slump. I was already pretty close to
missing the deadline, but now I’m in really trouble thanks to you,
you know!”

“Aren’t you being a bit unfair
here?”

“Ahh, but the kabe-don photos were a
real lifesaver. I managed to draw an awesome scene thanks to that
inspiration.”

“I’m happy for you…”

“By the way, the scene I’m talking
about is this.”

“No, stop! Don’t come any closer
with that!”

What she was showing him was even more
horrifying to Keiki than before. To be precise, Keeki was being
kabe-don’d by the ikemen Shouto, who softly whispered “You can’t
get away anymore.” (Both of them were naked). With flushed cheeks,
Keeki averted his gaze with a “S-Shouto….” (Still naked). And
in the end Keeki gave in to the temptation and accepted Shouto as
they hugged each other—

“Please try to resist a bit more,
will you…” Keiki said to his manga self.

“This composition is godlike if I do
say so myself… Fufu……. Fufufufufufufufufufu……”

“Scary!”

Keiki was shocked that his female
friend was like this in private.

“Nanjou, can you at least stop using
me and Shouma as material?”

“Ah, that’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because there are a lot of girls who
want to read the continuation of this.”

“C-Continuation? What do you mean by
that?”

“Well, the ‘Shouto and Keeki
Series’ is actually really popular.”

“You’re turning it into a series?!”

After finding out that Mao was a
fujoshi, the shocks came one after another.

“You know, the indecisive and
innocent Keeki plus the experienced ikemen Shouto make a great combo.
And it looks like a lot of fans agree.”

“Stop! I don’t want to hear another
word!”

“But well, the circumstances are like
that. I’m sorry for turning you into my model without asking, but I
can’t exactly restructure it at this point, and it would trouble me
if you and Akiyama stop flirting now.”

“It’s not like I’m really
flirting with Shouma, though……”

“I’ll properly convert everything
into fitting material so don’t worry. Even when boys are eating
lunch together, I can perfectly imagine a R-18 scene to draw about.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go to the
hospital then?”

“Kiryuu, I beg you! As a fan of my
novel, please go out with Akiyama!”

“I don’t wanna!”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re both
boys as long as there’s love.”

“It clearly does?!”

“Would it be fine by you if I
couldn’t move forward with my manuscript?”

“Actually, I’d be fine if you never
finished it.”

“Mu… you don’t have to be so
rude… But… I have my own ways of making you help me out.”

“…And what would that be?”

“After this, every time Kiryuu gets
close to another girl, I’ll do everything possible to get between
the two of you.”

“Excuse me?!”

“If you were to get a girlfriend, my
manuscript would suffer, right? A BL manga where the protagonist gets
taken by a girl wouldn’t sell at all, you know?”

“Why should I care about that?!”

“Ah, but if you were to cheat with
another boy, that would be different, okay?”

“That’s clearly not safe! That’s
completely not ok for me!”

“I hope you’re ready. I’ll be
sure to do my job properly! With full strength!”

“Ehhhhh…”

That pronouncement sounded really
serious, so she probably had already made up her mind before this
discussion.

And, just like that, another obstacle
got added to the story of the prince’s search for Cinderella.

Part 5:

Inside the classroom that Keiki had
left just now, Mao still remained on her seat. Not knowing what she
should do, she continued to sigh.

“Really, Kiryuu is such a
thick-headed idiot…” For now, she decided to badmouth the poor
boy, “Well, I can never muster up enough courage myself…”

Whenever Keiki got close with another
girl, she would dislike it. Her not being able to produce a good
manuscript was one thing, but that wasn’t the only reason.

“Really, how long do I have to suffer
through this unrequited love just because he saved me a little bit?”

Watching the Keeki inside her manga
being tightly hugged by Shouto didn’t evoke any jealousy at all in
her. But when the real Keiki acts close to other girls, it makes her
angry. First anger, then she gets mad… and finally, depressed. To
be precise, she gets jealous.

Actually, the reason why she couldn’t
make any progress with her manuscript wasn’t because she didn’t
have enough material. Truth be told, she could only think about Keiki
being together with another girl, making it impossible for her to
progress with the manuscript.

“Ahh, forget it. I’ll just hurry
home and continue with my manuscript.”

Anything for her precious readers that
are waiting for the next book. And with these words, the young BL
writer left the classroom behind her to finish her manuscript before
the next deadline.